Second Chance Sensei
by Sibrael
Summary: When Kakashi first realises he's been sent back in time he's thrilled. All too soon however, Kakashi realises that fighting for a better future is going to be a lot harder than he first thought. Time Travel.
1. Chapter 1

Sound of a nearby explosion jolted me out of unconsciousness. I dragged my eyes open and tried to roll over to be met with a sharp pain in my side. I must have reopened a wound. I lay in pain for a while, contemplating the wall of dirt in front of me and concluded I was lying in some nameless ditch.

A brunette head popped over the side. "Are you okay down there?" he asked around a familiar senbon. Genma frowned as I got to my feet with all the grace I could manage while the Iwa ninja beside him flicked his fingers through a simple earth jutsu.

Clearly, I must have looked a lot worse than I thought for someone to think I needed jutsu created stairs to get out of a simple ditch. I trudged up the stairs all the same. "What's the current situation?"

Genma and the Iwa nin shared a glance. Seeing the look in the Iwa shinobi's eyes, I froze. When even a stranger knows they should break bad news to you with extra sensitivity during a war it is never a good sign.

Genma turned to look me dead in the eye. "It's Sasuke."

I wondered what kind of person it made me that a part of me whispered that I hoped he was dead.

That part was to be disappointed as Genma continued, "Now that Kaguya's dead he's trying to take all the tailed-beasts and make the entire world hate him although only Kami knows why... He's been going at it for a while... and he's been rather successful thus far"

It was like a physical blow. I rocked back on my heels and closed me eyes in pain at what Genma was implying. How had it come to this? "Let's go meet up with the others." I lead the way only to suddenly find myself face-first in the dirt. I cursed myself for my lack of awareness of my surroundings; I hadn't even seen the attack coming.

To my surprise instead of turning to deal with the enemy, Genma knelt beside me. He looked upset. It was then that I realised I hadn't been attacked, I had tripped. No, not tripped, the ground had been fairly flat. I had just... somehow failed to correctly place one foot in front of the other.

"Let me have a closer look at that" Genma said eying my side.

"It's fine. It doesn't even hurt." Genma didn't look pleased at my statement. As I began to think about it, it was kind of strange that it didn't really hurt. The wound had certainly felt like a bitch when I woke up in that hole.

I felt Genma tug my jacket open and watched something in his eyes _break_.

I tried to think of something to say as he grabbed my hand but I was tired, my thoughts were muddled and all I could think of was how badly I had failed my team and how I would give anything for a chance to be a better sensei.

" _Is that true_?" a voice whispered.

Yes, I thought. Then everything went dark and I could no longer feel Genma's hand holding my own.

* * *

Chattering voices let me know someone was in my bedroom. I lay still and strained to catch some of the conversation. All I could grasp was a cry of "Youth!" Gai. Gai is in my bedroom. What is Gai doing in my bedroom? No, not my bedroom. My bed was more comfy than this.

"Kakashi?"

I was glad Gai were still alive. I grunted and pried my eyes open to see a medic peering down at me. Genma stood next to her. He no longer looked troubled, so that must mean I'll be fine.

"How are you feeling? You've lost a lot of blood."

I breathed in the smell of disinfectant and looked around the room. I was in a hospital, Konoha's hospital. I clenched the scratchy sheets in my fingers. Why was I in a hospital? "How long have I been out?"

"Just over two days. You're mainly here due to chakra exhaustion."

They must have headed straight to Konoha with me. I took a deep breath. "What have I missed?"

"Not much. After you passed out from chakra exhaustion, the rest of the ninja that ambushed you were finished off."

"And then I carried you home my eternal rival!" Gai beamed. Kami I hope I didn't get piggybacked.

"Wait what mission?"

The medic glanced up from her clipboard.

"To escort our package to Tea Country with the springtime of youth!"

The medic frowned. "You don't remember this?"

No, I didn't.

"Good to see you're finally up."

Recognizing the voice, I grabbed one of Genma's kunai with lightning fast reflexes and threw it at the door, because that's Asuma's voice and Asuma is dead. I watched Asuma block the kunai despite being startled.

"What the hell Kakashi?" Asuma asks. He's annoyed with me; I can see it in his eyes. What I can't see in his eyes is the tell-tale sign of being controlled by a reincarnation jutsu. I looked closer to see he was breathing.

"You're not dead." I state stupidly. Why are you not dead?!

"No I'm not," Asuma deadpans.

But that's bullshit because I buried that man, even took his team out to get revenge despite my lecture to Sasuke against such things all those years ago. I fucking buried him!

"Kai!" Nothing happened, not even when I activated my sharingan. To my horror I realised this meant that somehow Madara and Obito succeeded with their crackpot plan after all. No wait... I never looked into a red sharingan moon, I passed out with Genma's hand in my own. I looked out the window to see a pale white moon. What on earth was going on?

"Everything is fine Kakashi-san" soothed the medic. I glanced at her to see her fiddling with my IV.

Gai frowned and turned to the others. "He must have gotten caught in a genjutsu I wasn't aware of earlier."

"Everything is going to be fine my eternal rival. None of it was real and you are back home and safe. Everything is all fine now," he assured.

Asuma looked more forgiving then and gave an understanding smile. I tried to say something and make sense of the situation but it had taken too long for me to figure out the medic had upped my meds. All too soon I passed out again just to hear Asuma comment "Let him rest. He's been under a lot of stress lately."

* * *

I woke up in hospital again to find I was alone. I lay there and tried to make sense of what was going on. Was this a twisted test of some kind? Was I being watched? What happened to the god damned war I'd been fighting? Why is Asuma not dead? Seriously, what the hell was going on?

Deciding I didn't want to stay in a hospital real or not, I left through the window. Perhaps out of habit more than anything else, I quickly found myself in front of the memorial stone. Disappointment crushed me as I traced the two most familiar names. I would have liked to have seen Rin again even if it wasn't real. Her name etched on the stone convinced me what was going on wasn't part of anyone's moon-eye plan more than anything else ever could. I didn't linger. Unable to take it anymore I headed to my apartment.

Getting there I hesitated in the doorway at both the familiar and uneasy sight. It looked wrong. That was not the doona I last left on the bed... Grimly stepping into the room, my unease was justified as I was almost caught in one of my own traps. Quickly cutting the wire and deflecting a barrage of kunai I stood in the middle of the room and analysed the trap in agitation. I remembered setting a trap like that up... years ago but had changed it after deciding to rearrange the furniture... which had magically shifted back... While looking at an empty bookshelf in my bedroom, I felt an idea begin to form in the back of my mind. I turned and pulled up my shirt to see my chest in the mirror. Toned muscle greeted me lacking some of my more recent scars. I just stared until finally, I dropped my shirt. I headed to my desk and paused as my eyes rested on an unused calendar. If my memory served me right I had that calendar the year I became a sensei.

* * *

I made it to my bed and half-an hour later I was still sitting there with my heart racing. I finally remembered the voice I had heard as I passed out with Genma. Or perhaps I died with Genma. Oh well it didn't matter because the only way that any of this made sense was if someone or something had allowed me to go back in time, to have a second chance and fix _so_ much. I wouldn't be able to save my first team except perhaps Obito, but I wasn't about to kick a gift horse in the mouth.

I scrambled for a pencil and paper as I tried to write down plans as quick as they came to mind. Firstly, this time around I was going to get Sasuke a fuck load of counselling whether that took the form of formal counselling, a therapy pet, moving in with other live people or swimming with dolphins like the civilians swore by, I really didn't care. Hell maybe I'd try all of the above.

Secondly, I would actually train them this time around from day one, not just when we were on an incorrectly ranked mission and had almost died. Sasuke would be too fucking exhausted from training to even have time to think about going to Orochimaru. Orochimaru. You know what why even nominate them for the Chuunin exams? It might even stop the war with Sound and Sand.

After some thought, I crossed out "No Chuunin exams." The current Kazekage was a prick and Naruto and Gaara's friendship was important for international relations. The Kazekage needed to die. This reminded me of the Third. I paused feeling uneasy. Should I stop the Third's Hokage's death? Doing so might require letting someone in on my secret and I wasn't ready for that. Furthermore, it could make the timelines greatly diverge in ways I would be less able to control. No, I wouldn't tell anyone of the future. If I was to save the Third I'd do it on my own. But should I save the Third?

Screw it. I decided I had time to figure that one out later and scrawled down "learn more fuinjustu." If I couldn't prevent Sasuke getting the curse mark again I'd seal the damn thing better. What on earth had I been thinking using a seal that relied on Sasuke's will to turn down power?

I hadn't been thinking at all that's what. I had acted like peace would last forever when I knew better. I had been through a war as a genin, a chuunin and finally a jonin. I knew what it looked like to train a genin team as though their lives depended on it. Minato sensei had done it. I hadn't. How many hours of a week would I waste just being late to show up for my kids' training? How could I have squandered so much time when I'd had so little of it to begin with?

The painful truth was I had already begun to fail them before I'd even met them. How could they have taken my words of teammates seriously when my first words to them were that I hated them?

I stood, straightened my shoulders and promised myself I'd make a better first impression this time. This time I would get it right. Feeling my stomach grumble I practically skipped for the door to buy myself something for breakfast. I opened the door and stopped dead in my tracks, feeling all my brilliant plans start to go down the drain.

* * *

No, not that face. I kept staring at the face in front of me willing it to go away. It didn't. I took a deep breathe. Okay, I could still do this. Just because the Chuunin exams had already passed and Tsunade's face was being carved on the mountain didn't mean that I still didn't have time. This wasn't over. It just meant that the mysterious voice that sent me back wasn't giving me as much time with my three cute little students as I had hoped. I was just going to have make more drastic changes like locking us all in a room together for a month until we all developed Stockholm syndrome or something. It was going to be okay. I still had options.

But to figure out which option might be best I had to find out the correct date. I berated myself for my lack of awareness of my surroundings last night and headed to the market. Ignoring the curious glances at my unusually purposeful walk, I finally reached the market. Realising that I hadn't thought to bring cash I decided to just snatch a newspaper out of some poor civilian's hands, after all it had been a rough week and I figured I'd earned it. I glared at the balding man until his protests died a quick death. Turning to the front of the paper, I found the date and laughed. I laughed and laughed and when that laugh began to take a hysterical edge someone thankfully wacked me over the head.

"You're beginning to creep people out, myself included." Genma stood there and just stared at me for several long moments. "You didn't leave the hospital before being discharged did you?"

It was a rhetorical question and so I din't answer.

"Perhaps you should get the final okay before leaving this time... You don't seem very well."

"I'm perfectly fine." He didn't look convinced, so I continued "It's been a rough couple of days."

Genma slowly nodded while still eying me intently. "You know if you want to talk I'm here right... and not just about the mission."

I nodded along but Genma didn't look any happier. "A bunch of us are getting together tonight at the Salt and Battery Pub around eight. You should come."

It sounded like a request but it wasn't so I agreed. There were worse ways Genma could have reacted to a nervous breakdown in the middle of the street and given my behaviour over the last twenty-four hours I needed to show people I had my shit together. People are pretty paranoid about genii snapping after the Uchiha massacre and I didn't need anyone taking up some pre-emptive problem-solving.

Genma gave a final assessing glance and left. I made my way to a bench in the nearby park and let my head fall in my hands. It was the end of the year. Naruto and Sasuke had already left. Sakura was being trained by Tsunade. I was no longer a sensei. There was no more Team 7. My plans were in ruins. I wasn't here to be given a second-chance as a better sensei, I was here to be punished.

* * *

I did end up going to the pub that night. I put on a masterful performance of perfect mental health. I gave a convincing impression of being glad to be out on more challenging missions in the field again. I stayed in character mostly ignoring Gai, not initiating conversation and usually doing little to keep them going. Then when everyone seemed to have gone I got absolutely smashed, the kind of smashed I used to get while in ANBU except that that had been in the privacy and security of my own apartment. While wondering how I was going to get home I felt someone plonk themselves next to me. I decided to ignore them and instead concentrated on the bubbles in my drink. They looked so light and free unlike me.

After quite some time, I realised the person beside me was of the female persuasion. I considered taking them back to my place. A lay did seem like a good distraction. The thought went out the window once she spoke.

"So, what's made you drink to the point of passing out in public? I always thought you were more of a closet drinker." I hunched inward a little as I recognised Anko's voice. Any thought of escaping I had, left once I realised I needed to get past her to get out of my seat and leave. Not good. She was probably the last person I felt comfortable talking about my problems with. Even after all these years since Orochimaru had left, Anko's promotion to jonin still kept getting knocked back due to her past association with Orochimaru.

I looked up at her from my sprawled position on the table. She was smiling while her eyes searched for a weakness to make me talk. "I've had a shitty couple of weeks," I slurred, hoping she'd leave it at that.

Anko waved her hand and waited for me to go on.

"Everything's wrong. It's not the way it was supposed to be," I said trying to be vague while at the same time stating the crux of the problem outright.

Sensing weakness, Anko pressed on "Why is that?"

"I fucked up. I fucked up badly."

Anko appeared unimpressed. "Have you tried fixing it?"

"... No... I was going to try but now it's too late."

"What makes you so sure it's too late?"

"I'm not their sensei anymore."

Anko looked both unsurprised and glad to finally be getting somewhere. "I was under the impression one of your genin was still in the village."

"She's Tsunade's apprentice now."

We sat in silence for a long moment. "Why do you want to be Team 7's sensei?" she finally questioned.

I took a few seconds to try and gather my feelings into coherent thought. "It was supposed to be different this time. We were supposed to stay together and I was going to make them strong enough," I slurred waving my hand in the air as if that was going to help make what I said more understandable.

Anko watched me for a long, hard moment as if she had read something in my words I hadn't intended her to. I began to feel uncomfortable. Eventually Anko raised her eyes to stare unseeingly at the crowded bar. "Like I said before, I heard one of your genin is still in Konoha."

"She doesn't want me as a sensei anymore."

"Are you sure?"

"She sought out Tsunade to be her apprentice, not the other way around."

Anko looked down while swirling her drink for a while and when she spoke again she did not look up. "I missed him you know. We did horrible things together and I missed him. He was amazing to watch," she said wistfully. "Both the way he fought in the field and the way he would excitedly talk about one of his current projects out of it. He would take us out to lunch and train us for the chuuin exams. I looked up to him. When he betrayed me by lying about what we were doing, when he left, that hurt. When he gave me a typically lethal curse seal that hurt too. Even now I get angry and I get frustrated that I'll probably never make jonin, never make ANBU and never be a sensei. But what hurt most at the time, was the feeling of abandonment; that he left me without a backward glance; that everything we had been through together, that I, meant nothing to him."

Looking up at me, she continue slowly, "You sill have one of your students in the village. Genin often have more than one teacher at a time, Kami knows all the kids from a ninja clan do. As far as I can see, the only one preventing you being with her or teaching her to be a strong ninja is you." With that said Anko got up and left.


	2. Chapter 2

To my shame, I realized that Anko had been right. I had always taken Sakura for granted, had never truly seen her as important in her own right. Two days later when I had sobered up, I headed out to look for Sakura. Given Tsunade was also the Hokage, I figured there would be large chunks of time where she wasn't directly training Sakura. It was during one these times that I hoped to talk to her and hopefully set up regular times to get together for training. If I was really brave, I'd try and discuss her decision to seek out Tsunade for training and her reasons why.

Soon enough, I felt her chakra signature in one of the less used training grounds. I headed over with a spring in my step. I was somewhat nervous about the meeting; a lot of its success would depend on how Sakura was feeling. However, it was also a relief both to have a plan again and to realise that it still wasn't too late to change Team 7's fate for the better.

I neared the training field, saw who Sakura was training with, or rather who was training her, halted and quickly hid in a nearby tree. Once again in the past seventy-two hours I found myself completely thrown. I decided to watch them and try and figure out what I was dealing with before I approached.

My cute little student flicked her fingers through dragon, tiger and hare. She was learning Suiton: Mizurappa, a low level water technique with many variations, also the basis from which many stronger water jutsu were designed. Sakura watched another quick demonstration. After a couple of tries an acceptable amount of water gushed from her mouth. She had finally gotten the jutsu right. The man behind her spoke and Sakura turned around to beam a smile at him. It was like watching some kind of surreal nightmare. Nobody should ever smile at Danzo like that, that goes double for my students.

Unable to watch the torture reel any longer, I headed over determined to spirit my genin away. "Well done, Sakura."

Sakura turned around in surprise and looked confused as to why I was there "...Thanks"

"Sakura you and I need to have a talk." I grabbed her arm and started dragging her away. It said a lot that I wasn't in the right frame of mind to use a transportation jutsu.

Sakura frowned and started digging her feet in the ground. "But Shimura-san was teaching me-"

"I'm sure Shimura-san has other things to attend to. Let's not waste his time." The sooner we left the better.

"It's alright," he waved, "No waste of time; it isn't a trouble training Sakura at all."

Hearing this, Sakura took it as permission to somehow dig her feet in harder. Fuck. I was going to have to deal with the heart of the problem directly.

Danzo continued, "I quite enjoy teaching actually, it's always a pleasure to help shape the next generation." I chill went down my spine at those words.

"I'm sure you do," I spoke with no small amount of loathing in my breath. Sakura's eyes went pack and forth, keenly watching us.

Danzo walked closer. "However, Sakura and I were just finishing up for the day." He turned to Sakura "You did good work today. Don't forget to keep up with those exercises we discussed earlier." Then he ruffled her hair. I wanted to puke. Danzo looked back at me with mirth in his eyes. "You can take Sakura now if you want." As if I needed his permission! He gave a final nod to Sakura.

"Come, Sakura," I said. This time she finally didn't protest when I dragged her away. After several minutes of hauling Sakura along, I found myself in another training ground closer to the markets. I dropped her hand deciding it was time to have our little chat. Sakura had been silent the whole way. I turned around to find her charily watching me. It was a little unnerving.

I opened my mouth and closed it again, not knowing what to say. Sakura hadn't appeared traumatized by being taught by Danzo, perhaps she even liked him. I inwardly shuddered. Nevertheless, this disaster had to be nipped in the bud. "It would be best if you didn't train with Shimura-san any more," I said in my best grown-up voice. Sakura always did seem to respect authority figures.

"Why?" she demanded.

Why indeed. I couldn't just let her in on a bunch of stuff above her pay grade.

"He's not a very nice person," I finally settled on.

"He was nice enough to teach me that water jutsu." I suspected there was a dig at me in there somewhere.

"I could teach you new jutsu instead."

She jutted out her chin. "You could, but you don't."

"I would like that to change," I said trying to steer the conversation back on course.

"It sounds like you're just saying that because you don't like Shimura-san. You've never been interested in teaching me jutsu before. The only interaction we've had in the past few months is a nod in the street." she retorted.

Fuck, I couldn't deny that I hadn't made an effort to be around. This conversation wasn't going how I wanted. My earlier half-prepared speech I was going to give about how it would be okay, beneficial even to have more than one sensei was no longer remotely appropriate.

"Look, we hadn't been able to train together in a while, so I sought you out thinking we could continue on from the tree-climbing exercise and work on water-walking," I went with.

Sakura's eyebrows rose and after a pause she finally deadpanned "I already know how to do that." I should have seen that coming. I wracked my brain for something we could work on instead. "We could continue on with the exercise we were working on last time," she said.

That was logical, I should have thought of that. "Sure," I smiled. What were we doing last time?

Sakura watched me just stand there for a few moments. "You don't remember what we were doing last time do you," she rebuked.

My God, could the hole I'm digging get any deeper? "What would you like to work on then?" I questioned, hiding my desperation.

She eyed me speculatively. "Naruto has the rasengan, Sasuke has chidori, I want powerful offensive jutsus too," she demanded.

"Okay," anything to turn this conversation around. "These are the seals for soulbane," I motioned. "It's a forbidden jutsu in Konoha," I said, hoping the word forbidden would reel her in. "It's useful when you are faced with multiple opponents, particularly when you are on a solo mission or when you are cut-off from the rest of your team."

Sakura smiled.

* * *

After Sakura finished training and we had finished dodging small, murderous woodland creatures, I was free to once again freak out about Danzo training Sakura. Realising that this little water jutsu training session must have happened in the original timeline as well just freaked me out further. How could I steer the future in a better direction when I didn't even know all the major variables in my teammate's lives?

While to my knowledge Danzo was never a big player in Sakura's life in the original timeline, I couldn't assume that would remain the case this time as well, especially given that the man likely still carried a grudge against me. Why was Danzo even training Sakura to begin with? Hopefully it was a one time thing. I decided to keep a close eye on her to make sure.

Apart from a two-day mission, what followed the next weekend was full of for lack to a better word stalking Sakura. She seemed very busy learning medical jutsu from Tsunade along with the occasional taijutsu session.

Unfortunately, when I was then assigned a fortnight-long mission for the next day, I realised that I could no longer keep an eye on Sakura myself. So after another genjutsu training session with Sakura, I headed to one of the smaller ninja dorms.

Looking utterly unremarkable, and situated in a maze of winding streets, the building was difficult to find and come across unless you knew were you were going. I entered the lobby and headed to one of the doors at the end of the first floor. Hopefully Tenzo was in. Hearing movement inside, I knew I was in luck.

I was met with a warm smile. "Did the Hokage call?"

"No," I assured. "It's more of a social visit."

"Ah, come on in," he gestured, opening the door wider. I walked inside and we both took a seat around the table once Tenzo brewed a cup of tea. "How have you been?" he asked.

"I've been better," I answered honestly.

He nodded, "I've heard."

Heard what from where? "How about yourself, did you just get back?"

"I've been alright, just got back yesterday. I suspect I won't be heading out for at least another week." Good. He leaned back in his chair. "So what brings you around? We usually don't meet up until Saturday, not that I'm complaining."

"I need a favour actually. I need you to stalk my student."

Tenzo's eyebrows rose. I wished I had of phrased that better to sound less creepy. "Why would you want me to do that?" Tenzo asked. "I know you're taking the loss of your genin team hard but there are better ways to deal with the situation," he continued somewhat concerned.

He must've seen me drinking myself into oblivion at the pub the other night; then again ninja can be surprisingly gossipy. I realised this was probably the reason why there was tea in front of me rather than the usual sake. "Well there is that, but it's not just that," I admitted. "I've come to realise I've been a less than adequate sensei to my students," I winced. "I was going to try and rectify some of that with the one still in the village, when I came upon the tail-end of Danzo teaching her a water jutsu."

Tenzo was surprised. He leaned forward. I had his full attention. "I have no idea what why he was there. I tried talking to her about it, but for the most part it blew up in my face. I would like to think it was a one time thing, but I want to make sure. I was hoping you could try to keep an eye on her while I'm away for the next fortnight."

"I can understand why you'd be concerned," he said setting his tea down. "I'll keep an eye on her." I breathed out, relieved. "What are you going to do if he hadn't met her by chance the other day?" he probed.

"I have no idea Tenzo. I hope I don't have to find out."


	3. Chapter 3

When I got back from my mission, one of the first places I headed was to Tenzo's bright apartment. He let me in and for the first time since the strenuous mission I began to relax in the comfort of a familiar yellow chair. However, seeing Tenzo start brewing tea again, I started to suspect the news was not good.

As soon as he seated himself Tenzo launched right in, "You were right to be concerned. He met up with her again."

My stomach sunk. "What happened?"

Tenzo shifted. "She had been practicing on a training dummy in field 28 for about half an hour when Danzo came along. It wasn't clear if he had sought her out or she had been waiting for him but I doubt it was a coincidence."

Fuck. I wanted to throw something. "What happened next?"

"He helped her with her kunai and shuriken practice." He paused, gauging my reaction. "I doubt this is the second time that they've met, they acted too familiarly," he said more softly as if that would soften the blow somehow.

"Well..." I trailed off. What should I do with this mess? "I suppose I should mention this to the Hokage."

Tenzo nodded and took a sip of his tea. "Would you be surprised if I told you that I wasn't the only one keeping an eye on your student?"

"Yes actually, I would."

* * *

I rolled the new piece of information around in my mind, trying to weigh its importance. I'd never been very familiar with the person.

"He was on a mission with his team the week before you left which is why you never saw him." Tenzo reached for another walnut and choc chip cookie.

"Are you sure it wasn't just a coincidence or about something frivolous?" Please let it be something frivolous.

"He would frequently seek her out, but not approach. He only ever lingered when he saw her with Danzo and didn't leave until Danzo had already left."

Hmm perhaps this person knew something I didn't. It was worth checking out. After the conversation turned to more pleasant matters, I finished my tea and left.

* * *

I mentally sighed from my vantage point in the tree. My leg had cramped up again. Perhaps I was going about this the wrong way. I considered using a higher level concealment technique so I could comfortably sit. On the one hand there would be less chance of someone noticing me, while on the other hand if someone did notice me, they would get suspicious as to why I was going to so much effort to hide myself from a genin.

Screw this, direct confrontation it is, I thought and hopped down.

The genin calmly turned to face me. "Good evening Hatake-senpai."

"I hear that you've been keeping tabs on Sakura-chan. Care to explain why?" I asked mildly.

"Is it not natural to be interested in the activities of one's comrades?" Like his father, the boy was difficult to read.

"Yes, but that curiosity is usually sated through conversation and interacting with the person. Not stalking," I said, my voice gaining an edge.

He looked unperturbed. "What interest is it to you?"

"I care a great deal about the wellbeing of my students."

Shino eyed me sceptically. "I was under the impression that Sakura is no longer your student."

"Someone can have more than one sensei," I countered.

"Indeed." Without changing his appearance or stance, Shino gave the distinct impression that he was rather unimpressed with me.

I sighed. Conversations with genin didn't used to be this difficult. "Look, I have some ideas on why you might be keeping tabs on Sakura, but I'd like to hear them from you first."

Shino gave me an appraising look. "Danzo has been around Sakura lately… It had me concerned."

Looks like Tenzo was right. "Concerned?"

He nodded. "He showed an interest in my foster brother once and because of that took him away. He never came back."

I eyed the boy with newfound appreciation. "How long has this been going on?"

"They spent a lot of time together between the second and third chuunin exams. I think this is when they met." Unlike my other two students, I had completely left Sakura completely to her own devices during that month. Now I was dearly paying for it.

"Anything else I should know?" He shook his head. "If you think of anything later, come tell me." With my piece said, I left.

* * *

I peered into the fridge, grabbed two eggs and cracked them into the pan. As the eggs sizzled, I gave a tentative poke at the steak. Was it done? I could never tell until I cut them open. Deciding to be on the safe side, I left it in the pan and returned to thinking about the problem Danzo caused.

Despite my words to Tenzo the day before, I still hadn't seen Tsunade. Instead, last night had involved another drinking session filled with self-loathing; luckily, this time in my apartment. It was quickly becoming a bad habit that I needed to break, hence my new current health kick of cooking my own food.

While seeing the Hokage had sounded like a good idea at Tenzo's apartment, I had begun to realise that taking that action would create its own set of problems. I didn't want to jeopardize Tsunade's trust in Sakura. I wasn't quite enough of a dick that I was willing to ruin her apprenticeship just so I wouldn't have to share.

While lifting breakfast off the pan and onto a plate, I realised I would need to have more of the facts about the situation before I saw Tsunade. The only problem was that the person with those facts was Danzo himself.

A quick glance around the room confirmed that I was the only one at the building's communal kitchen. I tugged down my mask and started shovelling down breakfast. There was no need for decorum or savouring the moment when the steak ended up well-done anyway.

I wanted Danzo away from Sakura as soon as possible, so that ruled out watching things play out for a while before seeing Tsunade. It also ruled trying to get Danzo charged for treason through legal means, unless I wanted to reveal I was from the future. The odds were good that the Third had pardoned practically everything Danzo had done during his reign anyway, given that he had forgiven Danzo's assassination attempt on his own life. That left behind one, main, expedient choice. I was going to have to break into Danzo's office.

* * *

It had been a long time since I had been in Root's underground complex, longer still since I was a Root member. One of the problems this caused is that my old mid-riff jacket no longer fitted. So I was going to have to steal one, along with a mask, preferably from the same person.

I waited while henjed in front of an entrance to Root, in one of the shadier ghettos in Konoha, for a suitable target to walk out. Hinoe and Tsuchinoe were on guard duty. I considered taking them and dismissed the thought almost instantly. It would be too easy for them to raise the alarm, Hinoe was on entrance duty too often for his mask to be forgettable and Tsuchinoe... well I don't have her figure. Better to have a fight one-on-one and save my strength for an emergency.

I smelled someone coming. Soon enough, a familiar figure exited the building. It was Tsuchinoto. I flicked my eyes over his frame. He looked about the right size. I considered going after him and hesitated. I knew from past experience that Tsuchinoto was a good fighter. I was too, of course, but my training had lapsed somewhat since I'd left ANBU. I looked at him again and my eyes lingered on his light, long hair. If I put my hair in a ponytail...

Fuck it, there's no time like the present, so I followed him. He headed to one of the training grounds on the outskirts of the village and began practicing his shuriken throwing. After an hour of watching him, he then switched to kunai practice. Damn. Trust my bad luck to choose a ninja who understands the importance of the basics. So much for my initial plan of letting him wear himself out practicing jutsu before I attacked.

I considered my next move. I certainly couldn't use my chidori when I attacked, it was too recognisable. I also hesitated at the idea of using any elemental jutsu, the last thing I wanted was to cause international political tensions by favouring techniques of a particular chakra nature common in certain villages. On the other hand, using too many elemental affinities screamed high level ninja. It would be best if it looked like the ANBU was taken down by luck or careful planning.

I unclipped the opening of my kunai pouch and formed the seal of the tiger. Tsuchinoto immediately dropped into a defensive pose and pulsed his chakra trying to break the genjutsu. I quickly formed a clone, threw kunai in his direction and was on the move. Sparks flew as the kunai were deflected, then Tsuchinoto returned a volley of his own. I heard the kunai thud into my recently vacated location and removed the wire from my left hip pouch.

Hearing senbon in flight to my left, I looked across to see the Root member deflect most of the senbon my clone had launched. Not wasting any time, I threw the shuriken and kunai attached to my wire. A tremendous groan was all the warning I had as the earth began to roil and crack in a circle rapidly rippling outwards from Tsuchinoto. That attack was usually employed when one was surrounded on all sides, which suggested that Tsuchinoto was still in the genjutsu.

Again I threw kunai and shuriken, changing their trajectory with a twitch of my fingers. After another exchange of jutsu between my clone and the ANBU, I heard a momentary pause in the battle and watched on as Tsuchinoto slammed a kunai into his thigh. No longer fighting blind, Tsuchinoto dodged another clone attack, shooting an A-rank fire jutsu in my direction. I rolled out of the way, the wires never leaving my hand.

Tsuchinoto seeing my wire trap, tried to jump into a nearby tree, but I pulled my left hand back, hard. Wires flew across the training ground as my trap was activated. Tsuchinoto stumbled and the smell of blood in the air grew stronger.

Just as I was celebrating the hit, I was assaulted by the memories of my clone, including the feeling of a kunai sliding across my throat. Fuck. There was at least one clone of the Root member I hadn't been aware of. Where the hell was it now?

Feeling the heat of a fire jutsu heading in my direction, I rolled out of the way, drawing my tanto as I rose. A lot of sword fighting is footwork. Using kenjutsu now would play Tsuchinoto's injury to my best advantage.

I rushed at Tsuchinoto to be met with the crash of his tanto against my own. We both tried to push each other back and I was glad he no longer had the height on me he did when we first me.

We both jumped back and rushed again. He parried my blow. I responded with a quick upwards thrust, only for this to be deflected along with the next several blows.

He was slowing, but I was becoming uneasy. Where the fuck was that clone? I resisted the urge to reveal my sharingan.

My question was answered with a sharp pain in my shoulder. I should have heard that attack coming, but I didn't. Sloppy, Kakashi. I was under a genjutsu, the worst kind, a genjutsu using sound. I've been relying on the sharingan to fight high level genjutsu for too long.

I surged chakra through my system, releasing the jutsu. I kicked the ninja away, whirled to face the tanto-wielding clone and exchanged furious blows. A sluggish parry allowed me to slip under his guard and deliver a thrust to his abdomen. In one part dislike for traitors and one part pure pettiness, I twisted the blade before the clone exploded.

Turning back to the face the real Root member, I watched him wobble and then fall flat on his face. Finally; I had begun to wonder if those poisoned senbon were going to work at all.

After quickly checking to make sure that we were indeed still alone, I whistled the Icha Icha Infiltration theme song as I helped myself to some new clothes.


	4. Chapter 4

I clenched my kunai in agitation as I watched the ANBU walk below me. They reminded me of mindless worker ants. It was strange to think Tenzo had spent so much time here, had once been one of them. He never spoke of his life here. I wondered what it was like for him. Then the ground beneath me was all clear and every thoughts of Tenzo fled my mind as I dropped down and crept further into one of the more fortified sections of the complex.

Personally, I thought Danzo took the root analogy a little too far. Most ANBU Root facilities I knew of were in cold, dark places underground. The one I was currently trespassing in was no exception. The tunnels twisted and turned like a rabbit's warren and what little natural light was present weakly filtered down through distant skylights or was reflected in through unseen mirrors. The architecture was grim and utilitarian, except for the few areas with vaulted ceilings, likely there to feed Danzo's feelings of self-importance. The only features that could somewhat pass for decoration were the occasional posts or railings painted a dull red and the increasingly common slogans of propaganda painted on the walls or carved above doorways.

My search for Danzo's office had proved fruitless thus far. I'd found little of interest other than the vague impression that Danzo had more members in ANBU Root than I had initially expected. It was becoming more difficult to evade detection from individual Root ninja and regular patrols. I'd already had one slip up and had knocked out a pair of officers and had hid them in an empty classroom. I was feeling pressed for time as I continued to stroll down the hall peering into rooms of varying purpose. None of the rooms I'd seen, including the dungeons and torture chamber contained anything shocking. After all, it was nothing I hadn't done myself in ANBU. There was however, one room that made my heart drop and footsteps slow. It was a stark dormitory with such tiny little beds. I was beginning to suspect that I knew why the writing on the walls was more common in this section.

When I eventually found Danzo's office, it was purely by luck. I wretched the door open, ducked in and hastily closed the door to avoid another patrol. It was quickly apparent I had found the right room. Two old portraits of grim men hung on the walls next to sturdy bookshelves. A large oak desk stood opposite the door, covered in orderly piles of paperwork. Well cared for swords stood in a stand in the left corner while on the right a suit of armour stood, evoking memories of an earlier age. I gave a derisive thought for Danzo's overconfidence in his infamy and men in being sufficient security for his office. I should have done this years ago.

I helped myself to his chair and started skimming what was on the desk, primarily for any mention of Sakura and secondly for any dirt on Danzo. I skimmed the details of scouting missions, planned assassinations, accounting ledgers, reports from torture sessions and more, all with the sharingan, allowing instant memorization. As of yet none of it was earth-shattering. After going through everything on his desk without finding anything on Sakura or anything on training at all, I moved onto the scrolls on his bookshelf. Their contents were boring, boring, more boring followed by "Oooh nasty forbidden jutus," I crooned. I'd try that out later. I scratched my neck for what must have been the fifth time that night. I had begun to suspect Tsuchinoto had fleas. I hoped not, as Pakkun would never let me live it down.

"I always knew you would come back here one day."

I hadn't sensed his approach. I glanced up over a scroll to see Danzo standing in the doorway. There had been no accusation in his voice, nothing to suggest alarm or surprise; it was as if he was simply stating a fact. I found myself shaking my head.

"You've always belonged here. You've struggled with that fact, fought it, just like you're fighting it now."

I slipped several kunai out of my pouch. The pouch was a lot lighter than I wished. I cast my chakra senses further out, to see if Danzo had brought any friends. He had brought friends, Root agents were swarming on our location.

Danzo stepped forward. "You were such a good little soldier as a child, so willing, so eager to devote yourself to the rules. Even when you cast the ninja rules aside and moved into ANBU, you still held orders in such high regard. You never questioned the morality of the things you did in ANBU, did you, Kakashi? Even when spying on members of your own village. As long as you weren't actively leaving a teammate behind in the field you always followed orders didn't you, Kakashi, took comfort in them," he stated. "Even your own teammates feared you. You were ruthless. That ruthlessness more than anything is what your reputation is based on."

I was standing behind my chair now. I could feel Danzo's minions piling outside the door and down the corridor. "I would prefer to think my reputation is mostly built on my ninja skills, I am the Copy-nin', knower of over a thousand jutsu after all," I spoke airily.

"Precisely," he smiled in triumph. "You wield the sharingan of the friend you killed. You're the man who once held such promise, such potential, who let himself be crippled by the loss in stamina that same eye caused. Friend Killer Kakashi, that's what you were called."

That hurt and my muscles tensed. It hurt because it was true. I had done those things, I was those things. I didn't try denying what he said. I just wanted him to stop talking, but I couldn't make him, not yet.

"People like you aren't meant to be out in the regular forces. You couldn't even handle being in charge of a bunch of genin. To keep the boys in the village all you had to do was dangle knowing Naruto's parents over his head, just as you could have dangled your experience with Itachi as his teammate over Sasuke's. You could have chosen to train Sakura into something fearsome with her chakra control and intelligence, but you didn't." There was rebuke in his voice. "It was a relief for you wasn't it, returning to ANBU after the Third died. I bet it felt like coming home."

I continued to meet Danzo's calm, confident eye. I began to weave my genjutsu. He was a fool for not looking away from me. "Is that what you're doing with Sakura, training her into being something fearsome?" I hoped to goad the man into revealing what his office had not.

He looked at me like an exasperated teacher might to a child struggling to understand a concept that should have been well within their grasp. "All tools are fearsome, Kakashi. It's more a matter of who is wielding them, how and why. Unlike you, I will not discard Sakura, allowing someone to hold her like a knife to my throat. Neither will I allow her to fall into disuse, ignored and rusting in the corner. I will hone her skills and fashion her into the shield and weapon she was always meant to be for Konoha." He raised his eyebrows. "Did you really believe we'd put just anyone on that team, that there wouldn't be plans for them?"

My mind raced as I tried to connect the dots between everything Danzo was insinuating and everything I knew about Sakura.

"Guards! Subdue him."

I would get nothing more from Danzo. It was time to go. I turned and jumped through the small hole in the wall I had quietly made with my earth jutsu and hidden with my genjutsu. I found myself falling through a dark room, from one of Danzo's many vaulted ceilings. I cast chakra strings to the ceiling, which ended up resembling something more akin to chakra ropes, and swung myself toward one of the narrow, dull, red bridges. I hit the walkway running.

Biding time in Danzo's office had allowed ANBU to become concentrated outside the office door. The wall of Danzo's office and the bridge I was on would act as a chokepoint, slowing my pursuers. Barely. Getting out would be a bitch.

Sirens rang and red lights began to flash overhead. I made random turns while generally heading South. The Hokage Tower was on the southern side of the village.

Another right turn found my way blocked by a pair of ANBU. They turned, saw me and unsheathed their tanto. "Identify yourself. What is the password to challenge beta five?"

I answered him with a slice to his carotid artery. Blood splashed my mask. I turned and parried the slash of his partner. It jarred my injured shoulder, badly. She was a passable swordsman, better than her partner, but I was pressed for time. I exchanged safety for expediency, allowing my arm to be cut in order to slip under her guard. I was running again before she hit the floor. I swore as I realized the gash on my arm was leaving an easy to follow, blood trail.

Sunlight bathed the opening of the hallway ahead; another skylight. Bingo. I burst into a wide hall with walkways criss-crossing above me. There were eleven others already in the room, yet I was closest to the skylight. Wasting no time, I ran up the wall to the exit. The ANBU gave chase. Root were at my heels, however, another burst of adrenaline helped me put distance between us. I surged forward, now mere meters from the opening above, only to slam face-first into an invisible barrier.

Oww! What the fuck? Badly concussed, I fell and somehow managed to land on one of the walkways. I tasted blood and my front teeth felt loose. ANBU landed next to me. They hadn't run into the barrier.

We fought. It was not one of my better fights. All too soon my back was slammed to the ground and my limbs were pinned. This was bad, real bad. I felt a prick of pain in my neck. The room began to spin again. Or had it never stopped? My chakra quickly began to drain and I could no longer keep my sharingan active, could no longer keep my eyes open at all. Through the ringing in my ears I heard footsteps accompanied by the dull thud of a cane on wooden planks. As the darkness closed in, I heard three last words.

"Welcome home, Kakashi."

Then I lost consciousness.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Feedback welcome, particularly on these last two chapters as they are my first attempts at fight scenes. I'm curious as to where people think this is going. If anyone is interested, I am also looking for Beta-readers. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

When the sedative released its hold on me, consciousness didn't leisurely return like warm sunlight gradually filtering into a room. Instead it was harsh, sudden and disorientating, like an unexpected stampede. Immediately, I knew something was very wrong and my heart slammed against my chest in a way it hadn't in years. It wasn't the pain that tipped me off, pain was a familiar friend. What tipped me off were the heavy weight of chains against my limbs and the feeling of icy, unyielding stone beneath me - all of me. My clothes were gone. I fought down the rising panic and listened.

There was a soft grating and scraping sound towards my feet. It was a familiar sound, an everyday sound, it reminded me of my childhood, of happier times and yet I could not place it. The jarring discordance between my present situation and this whisper of a memory it provoked was maddening. My pulse skyrocketed again, and for a moment all I could hear was the pounding of my heart in my ears.

At some point I remembered I needed to breathe. I took a deep breath through my nose, held it and slowly let it out through my mouth. I took another deep breath, thought of my ninken and exhaled again. I kept focusing on my breathing. In, hold and out. In, hold and out. In, hold and out. Slowly, I started to calm down.

I tried listening again. The relentless, grating and scraping sound was still there. Harder to detect with it, was the sound of breathing. There were three people in the room with me, one by my feet and two to my right. The breathing of all three was steady and calm.

I reached for my chakra to see if their chakra signatures were familiar, but nothing answered my call. If I had any chakra left I could not access it. I wasn't surprised – this was standard procedure for captives. All I felt was a dull acceptance at the confirmation. With nothing else left to do I opened my eyes.

The room was sparse and utilitarian. My heavy chains were short and bolted to the floor. The walls were bare. Unusual for the Root complex, this room was well lit with fluorescent lights. On my right was a door with masked guards on either side. Where the scraping sound originated stood Danzo working at a desk. His back was to me and I could not tell what he was working on.

No one commented on my being awake, though I knew I had been able to hide it from none of them. I tried to test the slack in my chains. All I managed was a twitch and a slight curling of my fingers. I had been injected with a paralytic. Wonderful.

Danzo kept working at his bench while I just lay there able to do little else.

It suddenly came crashing down on me how stupid I'd been. No one knew where I was. No one would be alarmed by my absence tomorrow. No one was coming to help me. I alone had gotten myself into this mess and I alone would have to get myself out of it, except I couldn't do that because I was chained to the Kami-damned floor!

Eventually the scraping sound stopped and Danzo turned around. In a long, drawn-out moment his gaze passed over every inch of me, assessing. The little hairs on the back of my neck rose as my mind began flashing through all the possibilities as to why I was naked in the first place.

Danzo retrieved a bowl and a box from his desk and then came to sit beside me. I watched him waiting to see what he would do next. It's hard to be witty when you are naked and chained to the floor.

Watching him, I then began to realise why the scraping sound from earlier was so familiar. Danzo had been grinding an ink stick on an ink stone. My father used to make his own ink too. I would sit beside him and watch him make his own explosive tags. He once said he found it calming. I hadn't thought of that in a long time.

The wet tip of a paintbrush began to dance across my skin as Danzo began writing out the fuinjutsu. The brush was cool to the touch and I thought it almost would have been a pleasant feeling were it not for heavy knowledge of what Danzo casting fuinjutsu on me would likely imply.

I watched Danzo's face trying to get an indication as to where he was going with this. He had an intent look on his face, but gave little away until he starting writing on my side. A flicker of irritation flashed in his eyes. He bent down and I felt his breath ghost across my skin as he blew his work dry before wet ink and gravity ruined his justu.

As Danzo's calligraphy continued to spread across my skin I shook off my resignation and apathy. Anything I knew about the seal could be helpful at a later date and so I tried to memorize the dark runes visible on my skin.

When Danzo's brush was out of sight, I closed my eyes and concentrated on the feeling of the brush, trying to identify what he was writing. It was difficult and distracting but I managed to figure out some of the runes Danzo was using.

It was at this stage that to my horror that I realized my cock was now at half-mast. I prayed things didn't get any worse than that but when I glanced at Danzo there was a hint of smirk in the shadows of his face and something flickered in his eyes. Was he… he was laughing at me. I was too disturbed by the situation to feel humiliated.

Eventually Danzo finished his sealing. Had I been able, I would have writhed on the ground from the feeling from the pain and the feeling of his chakra settling somewhere deep inside my brain.

When I was coherent again, Danzo spoke. "As you'll soon notice, I've placed not one, but several seals on you. My favourite is a strong compulsion seal. You will no longer just report to the Hokage for missions, you will also report to _me_. Furthermore, you won't be able to speak or write to anyone about what has happened here, nor tell them about our special, new, little relationship."

I'd rarely seen him so self-satisfied.

"My first order is that you'll stop telling Haruno not to train with me. As I've said before, I have plans for her and I don't need you interfering."

I wanted to lash out at him in frustration. Once again all I managed was a slight twitch, so I put all the scary expression I could in my eye and hoped I looked a lot more dangerous to cross than I currently felt.

"My second order is that after you receive you're next mission from Tsunade, you'll report here to me before you leave the village to obtain a second mission from myself." Danzo then gave me a smile showing more teeth than I'd ever seen him display in my entire life. "I think I'm going to rather enjoy working with you Kakashi."


End file.
